


Pink is a Badass Color

by CardboarianNights



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Exploring your suppressed interests, Gabe is into Pastel Gothic Lolita fashion, Gabe looking killer in a dress, Gabe never goes to Talon but still becomes Reaper and stays with Overwatch, Gabe will crush your skull onder his high heels, Implied Smut, Jesse never really has a crush on Gabe pre-explosion but DOES AFTER THEY REUNITE, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Recall, it's okay to like pink if you're a guy, no he doesn't wear the outfits into combat zones, no it's not a fetish fic, off duty fun exploration, owning it, reclaiming your life, sexually suggestive content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 17:30:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9082420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CardboarianNights/pseuds/CardboarianNights
Summary: Jesse McCree did not have a shred of romantic interest in Gabriel Reyes beyond a short-term puppy crush that was quickly turned off by reality and the guy's eventual death. After Winston initiates the recall order, Jesse McCree returns to Gibraltar and Realizes his dead commander might not be as dead as he thought. The guy might have also opened himself up to new things when he was supposedly dead too and Jesse finds himself not minding it as much as he thought he would.





	

Jesse McCree was weak at the knees when he was cornered by Reaper, rather his old Blackwatch boss, Gabriel Reyes, at the Gibraltar facility. He wasn’t around for the explosion, high tailing it out of Overwatch when things at Blackwatch got too grim for him to handle, but he didn’t expect his dead mentor to respond to the recall Winston put out that reunited both of them. Gabriel went under the codename of ‘Reaper’ and apparently stayed with Overwatch in the Gibraltar facility under the care of Winston and Angela for ten years. 

Would have been nice if someone had given him a head’s up on that fact sooner but…

He was wearing pink. Peony pink if he remembered what Reyes taught him about color selection back in the day when they made costumes together for Halloween or just to de-stress after a mission. Pastel goth was always a style Reyes was fond of looking at in fashion sites, not that he would ever think to blackmail his boss with that information since no one would fucking beileve him but now he was WEARING it. A peony pink pastel outfit with a frilly skirt that came dangerously up past his thick mid-thigh area, thigh-high stockings, pink heeled boots that he probably crushed a lot of men’s skulls under, matching gloves, a pink hood, and a creepy, white owl mask to cover his face. 

Jesse swallowed hard as red eyes from under the mask looked Jesse from top to bottom. He was still wearing one of the old costumes they put together for Halloween one year in Blackwatch, the red serape a personal endeavour by Gabriel for a christmas present before Jesse jumped ship a few months later. Most of the cowboy gear was bought from sex shops and modified to be more decent and fit Jesse’s body since the stuff wears and tears like no one’s business when you’re on the run from bounty hunters. 

“Disgusting” Reaper’s augmented voice grumbled as he turned away, showing off the beautiful lace work Gabriel made for the corset of the dress that accented his waist line and the gorgeous huge pink ribbon that completed the ensemble in the back, the tail ends fluttering in the breeze.

Jesse took off his hat and looked down at his dirt-caked form, understanding well how far he had fallen. 

He had a goal in mind: Get back into Gabriel Reyes’ favor and sew with him once again like old times.

\--

Gabriel had become so empowered after the fall of Overwatch, not having to conform to the expected dress codes of a commander, that he walked about the Gibraltar base proudly in outfits that he would never be caught dead in ten years ago. And goddamn did Jesse McCree find himself staring as Reyes worked his legs in a variety of skirts, shorts, and leggings that would make any guy sing praises for how nice they looked.

The only time Gabriel did tone it down was on missions where he switched to a classic goth aesthetic but left the clothing basically the same. 

When they were escorting a payload in Dubai, Gabriel made the choice of wearing a black leather attire, fabric coated in kevlar but still had that tight grip around his body that made Jesse’s eyes wander from time to time. 

But it was that mission he realized that something else had happened ten years ago, other than getting injured in the blast, when Reyes shrugged off getting filled with bullets from the Talon agents that ambushed them. The guy freakin turned into a black cloud and charged right into the fray. Jesse rolled behind cover as the congested streets filled up with gunfire from every angle, Jack activated his visor to assist his aim to try to take out the guys on top of the buildings while Lena darted in and out of cover to catch up to Gabriel.

“Stay with the payload, McCree!” Jack barked at him over the commlink, making Jesse grit his teeth on his cigarillo. The old man knew what he was going to do before Jesse even thought about bolting out from cover to move forward. He might have white hair but he was still as bossy of an ass like he was back when he was Strike-Commander, even with Winston in charge. 

He was right that someone needed to help the driver move forward, the guy probably was pissing himself as Jesse made a break back to the payload, firing Peacemaker at any grunt that had the balls to move forward to try to seize the tech it held. The car was a modern armored truck so it made for good cover as he and Lucio danced around it to take whatever easy shot they could get before Jesse slammed the signal for ‘move forward’ on the driver’s side door for the man to keep going when it was a bit safer. 

“4-6-5!!” Reaper’s voice suddenly tore through the gunfire in Jesse’s ear piece and muscle memory kicked in as Jesse swerved on his heels to face directly south and fired, taking out a grunt down the street who had an RPG aimed in their direction.

Jesse was dazed for a second as he wondered what other Blackwatch code callouts he had forgotten before quickly reloading his pistol.

“Holy shit, Jesse! That was awesome!” Lucio yelled before signaling to the driver to move once more. 

“Just quick on the draw, is all!” Jesse chuckled as the car turned the corner onto the main street. They were almost home free if they could get the payload to the highway where the escort ships would be able to better handle Talon without buildings or civilians in the way and their job would be done. 

Several pile of ashes littered one side of the street while there were mangled bodied filled with bullets on the other. Blood and gore on the left while there were clean kills on the right along with the bodies. Something wasn’t adding up here.

“Snipers on the roof!” Jack’s voice warned them as Lucio and Jesse quickly rolled behind the back of the armored truck as bullet holes hit the spots where they just we at.

“A little faster next time, 76! Almost bit the bullet!” Jesse yelled into his commlink as he held down the device to transmit his voice before releasing it. Lucio and him were reloading their weapons while the truck driver kept the vehicle in place, waiting for the signal from the two beside the truck.

“Maybe if you did your job instead of looking at Reaper’s ass the snipers would have been dealt with, McCree!”

Jesse felt his face flush but kept his cool. Jack was clearly pissed off and going for low blows; He was pinned down somewhere and getting antsy.

“Give me a location, 76, and I’ll-!” Jesse lifted his gun and fired several rounds to down the Talon agents that busted out of the buildings on both sides. “Shit, shit, SHIT!!”

He took his hand off the commlink and fanned the hammer as Lucio broke away to dart around the truck with his skates to dodge the bullets that were fired from the other side. Jesse rolled and quickly reloaded his gun with the speed loaders he had, dropping the count on his belt to three fast reloads since he could do anything manual when he was a fish in a fucking barrel.

Bullets hit his chest armor as he kept trying to reduce the number of Talon fucks that were trying to surround the car. Jesse and Lucio wouldn’t be able to use the armored car for cover to hide around the more the grunts spread out and moved from cover to cover, unlike them. 

Jesse went through his options as he pushed himself hard to keep moving, trying not to panic so his aim wouldn’t go wide. The space under the truck wouldn’t be an option since his metal chest plate would get in the way but Lucio would be able to use the cover. Both sides and the front and back of the truck were becoming less viable by the second for cover juggling. The top of the truck would require he go out of what little cover he had to expose himself to BOTH lines of fire and he had no idea how long the top would give him height advantage if there was a sniper waiting in one of the apartments the other agents swarmed out of.

“Lucio! Get under the car!”

“I can’t! My blades will get in the way!”

Jesse hated his fucking luck at the moment. Fucking figures he forgot to calculate in Lucio’s gear. He really had lost his touch in working in groups when it came right down to it.  
He made a break for the front of the car when there was a slight lull in the shoot, scrambled his way onto the front of the car before vaulting onto the top, and unleashed hell on the fuckwits below that were out of cover. Jesse felt the familiar strain in his eye as he hyperfocused on the men in front of him, time slowed as he drew his gun, and fired all six shots, taking down the rest of the Talon thugs on the left side. His heroics got him shot in the neck and he fell onto the top of the truck.

“Jesse!!” Lucio’s voice shouted out nearby and on his commlink as Jesse stayed as calm and still as possible on the truck. He felt Lucio’s healing beats working as he kept a hand clamped down on his wound and felt little to no pain from a wound that was almost certain to be fatal if he was knicked somewhere important, which he was almost certain from the amount of blood soaking his hand.

The truck shook as something landed on the top near by his feet, he felt the world starting to lose focus while he tried to stay as calm as possible. Sound was muffled before he saw the metal of the truck move away from his sight and lost consciousness.

\--

He woke up on the medical stretcher in the center of the dropship, Lucio and another medic tending to him. Jesse felt like solid lead everywhere, unable to lift his appendages, and was pretty certain a cervical collar was placed around his neck. His tongue and throat were parched as he tried to open his mouth to speak.

“I’m guessing he’s up?” Reaper spoke from somewhere in the distance.

“Mostly. Didn’t think he’d be back around so quickly from a transfusion.” Lucio chuckled nervously as he adjusted the soft music playing into the headphones that were on Jesse’s ears to make it a little bit louder so it wasn’t light background noise. Something was off about the way Lucio spoke and was extraordinarily careful when adjusting Jesse’s headset. He was nervous? Anxious? About what?

“Can we unhook him, already?” Jack spoke up, anxious about something as well which was almost as unsettling of a concepting as Lucio being on the edge about something. If only he could sit up and see what was going on or had a cup of water for his throat so he could fucking ask.

“Yeah. He should be fine.” Reaper responded in amusement.

Warmth stopped flowing to his flesh arm and he felt the sharp sting of something being pulled out of his wrist followed by firm pressure. Lucio changed the track of the song that was playing and felt the pain flow away with the soothing melodies.

\--  
Jesse found Gabriel’s room by complete accident, practically walking into the guy after he snuck out of his hospital room. 

“Any particular reason you’re doing out for a stroll with a hole in your neck, McCree?”

“The wound practically healed up by the time we got back to base. Don’t see why I gotta wait a week when two days is clearly enough.” Jesse shrugged.

Reyes crossed his arms over his chest, even with the mask on Jesse could tell that he was scowling at him. 

“You’re certainly looking nice tonight. Got a date?” Jesse smiled as he got down on one knee to look at the detailed stitched Reyes put into the black, loose skirt his was wearing, the end coming down to just a bit above the knee. Gabriel swatted Jesse’s hand away when he went in to gently touch the neon colored thread that was used to depict your usual symbols of death. Most likely to piss of Morrison since the gang down in Dorado gave him a run for his money prior to the recall.

“Touch my skirt again and I’ll shove your hand up your ass, McCree.” Reyes growled in annoyance.

Jesse frowned at that. “I’m guessing you don’t have a date then? Shame. You want to do some stitching in my hospital room since you clearly disapprove of me leaving it?” He asked curiously.

“I’m not even remotely interested in spending time with a deserter.” Reaper turned on his lovely heels and walked away, leaving Jesse to sigh heavily as he turned around to go back into his hospital room.

Jesse closed the door behind him and went back over to his bed. He was still in his patient gown anyways and the walk to the dorms, even this late at night, made it likely that he would stumble upon someone who would alert the medical staff. If he ran into Reyes the moment he opened the door than clearly luck wouldn’t be on his side if he tried to sneak out again.

He carefully climbed back into bed and pulled the sheets up as he laid his head back on the bed. 

What was Reyes doing in the medical ward anyways?

\--

Angela finally let Jesse out of the medical ward the next day after doing extensive testing to make sure the wound had fully healed, talking to Lucio in hushed voices as he walked out of the examination room in a plain shirt and jeans. Something about ‘blood’ and ‘program’ but he wasn’t very interested in sticking around with the doctors in case they changed their minds.

Jesse brought his flesh hand up to gently rub the bandage that wrapped around his neck. Maybe it was a bit strange that he healed up so quickly and that he didn’t bleed out on the battlefield with a severed carotid but he was a simple man who didn’t even try to understand modern medicine. 

Besides, he had a pink grouch to go hunt down.

Reyes was wearing his variation on a what had to be the frilliest, pinkest, french maid outfit he had ever dreamed about being on the man’s body when Jesse finally found him in the rec room with Morrison. Both former commanders were sitting together and watching the holo tv, Reyes laying back with his pink hood up and mask on. It made Jesse wonder why he was so ashamed of show off his face considering that he never was one to hide unless it was on a stealth mission in Blackwatch.

He walked around the sofa and took a seat between the two men, doing his best not to look at Gabe’s amazing thigh-highs and garters. Actually, now he regretted sitting between them because Reyes crossed a leg over his other and he couldn’t look away from those black leather boots. If Jesse had a collar on his shirt he would be yanking on it from how incredibly aroused he was getting and walking away now would draw questions as to why he sat down in the first place. He had his pride still, dammit! Reyes’ legs are just his legs! 

“Feeling better after taking a hole to your throat, McCree?” Jack asked casually as he changed the program to golf, instantly drawing a growl from the man to Jesse’s right. He sighed and channel hopped until they got to the animal channel where they were showing of sporting breeds of dogs doing athletic competitions.

“Yeah. Angie and Lucio said I came rather close to death.” Jesse drawled as he laid back against the cushions and smiled as he watched the cute doggies run off the docks in a horizontal leaping competition. “Any idea how Lucio handled six Talon grunts after I went down?”

“Ask Reaper.” 

As much as he knew they were using the code names to keep their identities a secret, it still annoyed Jesse to hear Jack call Gabe ‘Reaper’ than use his fucking name when they were clearly alone. It was like they hadn’t gotten over what happened in old Overwatch yet and it was petty as fuck.

“Six shots to the head.” Was all Gabriel would say on the subject matter before the three of them were talking about dogs and which sporting breeds they liked, which was actually kind of insightful.

“Labradors. You can never go wrong with a lab unless you TRY to make it a bad dog.” Gabriel explained to Jack as the old man shook his head.

“Clearly you’ve never been raised with an Irish Setter, Reaper. Fantastic dog and an absolute beauty when well groomed.”

Jesse felts eyes fall on him and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Reaper does have a point about labs, but I’m kind of fond of Corgis. They’re great herding dogs from what I’ve heard and supposedly an English queen was real fond of them too!”

“Yeah. Not much of an apartment dog since they’re so smart and full of energy. Pretty much a pint-sized German Shepherd.” Jack hummed in agreement.

“Wait. You owned a Corgi before, 76?” Jesse asked curiously.

“Parents did. Her name was ‘Bullet’ and she might as well had been my sister when I was growing up. We had enough room to get two sheep for her to boss around to work off her energy and herding instinct. A lot better than her bossing me around.” Jack chuckled nostalgically. “Parents couldn’t find the strength in their hearts to get a new Corgi after she passed on. They still keep two sheep around for companionship though.”

Jesse was about to give his condolences to Jack for how down he seemed after telling that story but Gabriel jumped in smoothly after a few moments.

“Some people swear by breeders and that you can guess how a puppy turns out by seeing the parents but my family didn’t subscribe to the philosophy. We fostered a lot of older dogs that some of the local shelters felt were too sweet to put down and we always received a phone call at least once a month asking if we could hold on to a dog for them. I’d say we usually had three dogs maximum in our house at a time, most of them given up because their owners passed away or other similar sad stories. You get the occasional pure breed but most of them were mutts that you couldn’t really tell exactly what they are but you loved them anyways because they loved you. The shelters paid for the medical expenses so we also had some dogs that needed seizure medication and such but they were still fantastic dogs until they were ready to move on to the rainbow bridge.”

Jack smiled softly at that. “You believe in the rainbow bridge too, huh?”

“What’s the rainbow bridge?” Jesse asked, very much interested in the conversation going on right now since he never heard a more personal story from Gabriel like that before.

“The rainbow bridge is something that the christian community came up with to get around some of the technicalities of going to heaven. Basically, when an animal you love passes away, their soul waits for you at the rainbow bridge, the passageway to heaven. When the owner eventually passes on, they reunite with the souls of all their animals and they go to heaven together. Some folks don’t believe in heaven but still subscribe to the spirit of the rainbow bridge idea, that they will eventually meet their beloved animals again in the afterlife.” Jack explained.  
Jesse nodded his head in understanding. “I never owned an animal before but that does sound like something that would put me at ease.”

“You never had a dog or a cat before Deadlock?” Gabriel suddenly asked, catching Jesse off guard a bit.

“No. Family was too poor to afford animal food. Why?”

Jack and Gabriel looked away from Jesse, but he was sure that Jack was expressing something like pity on his face for a moment.

“Eh. It’s not like I’m missing out on much anyways. I don’t got the time to raise a puppy or a kitten anyhow. Doubt Winston will let me bring one in anyways.” Jesse shrugged dismissively.

The other two continued to not say anything and soon the conversation went back to talking about the pros and cons of certain sporting breeds when performing the tasks on the screen. No more personal stories or Jesse’s lack of them came up again.

Jesse left the room feeling a lot happier than he thought he would be after plopping down between the two grumpiest assholes on the planet. His flesh hands came up to lightly scratch the bandages before a cold, fishnet covered hand grabbed the hand before it could make contact.

“Sheesh, you got cold hands, Gabe. You go hanging out in the freezer again or something?” Jesse shuddered as he pulled his hand out of Gabriel’s.

Gabriel huffed. “Are you seriously not aware, Jesse McCree?”

“That something is kind of more weird than usual with you since we last met? Yeah. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk about it or not with me.” Jesse admitted sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Valid. We’ll talk in my room.” Gabriel spoke simply and Jesse fell into line beside him as they went to the dorms together.

\--

There was no Strike Commander’s quarters at the Gibraltar base since Winston moved and repurposed the area into a science facility so Jack and Gabriel were given normal rooms like everyone else in the dorms. Jesse followed Gabriel into his room, noting that it was right around the corner from his own before Gabriel closed the door and he took a seat on the bed. The room was neat, organized, a sewing machine on his desk next to his laptop, and he had several boxes filled with fabric, along with a mannequin in the corner of the room where his current project was mounted on. No pictures or anything else out of the ordinary.  
“Alright. You’re well aware of the explosion at the Zurich headquarters and how Jack and I supposedly died in it, right?” Gabriel started. “Well, surprise, I literally died in it. Angela’s revival tech that we use to bring us back? Yeah. The prototype was used to bring my scattered body back together.” 

Jesse’s jaw almost dropped out of his mouth from how casually Gabriel discussed his death like he took a walk in the park or something. He fucking died for real? Are you serious?! Why wasn’t he upset about this?! Jesse was on his feet and ready to punch someone out before Gabriel pressed down on the cowboy’s shoulders to get him to sit back down.

“Ease up, Cowboy. You’re just getting on board with what happened. Revenge is already in the works, if you want in.”

“Of course, Gabe! You might have been a sour boot before I ran off but you certainly didn’t deserve to DIE!”

Gabriel just stared at him and Jesse brought his hand to the back of his neck to rub it sheepishly as the room went awkwardly silent.

“Um. Yeah. Sorry bout runnin’ off, by the way.” He chuckled nervously, making Gabriel roll those ruby red eyes of his as he sighed.

“I don’t blame you for running away, McCree. I wasn’t the best person to be around and that’s why I never told anyone you went MIA. I wasn’t in a good place.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, ashamed.

Gabriel Reyes was apologizing? Was Jesse really hearing this? He could deal with Gabe’s anger, he had so many times in the past along with his disappointment but never apologies. Not on this level. Apologizing for his behavior in whole? It was completely unlike the Gabriel he knew.

“I don’t expect your forgiveness for what I put you through, Jesse. Just seeing you again… I just. I want to do better, is what I’m trying to say.”

Jesse smiled at that. It must have been hard to admit you were wrong, even if it didn’t excuse all the things Gabriel had Jesse do during Blackwatch’s later years that made him bail. His eyes trailed up to the bone mask the covered Gabriel’s face, something that never left his figure while Gabe dressed up in all sorts of outfits that oddly complimented the damn thing, even when it obscured everything but Gabriel’s eyes.

Weren’t they brown once? Maybe he lost more than just his body in the restructuring of his body.

“So, what’s the deal with those lovely rubies of yours under the mask, Gabe? Their a fancy jewellery missing a pair somewhere?” He teased playfully, earning another roll of those gems of gems of Gabe’s.

Gabriel shifted on his legs. “That’s not something I’m comfortable talking about. Sorry.” He added regretfully and Jesse nodded his head.

“That’s fine, Gabe. The outfits make your mask that much more adorable with the juxtaposition you present in the design. Gives it that gothic edge while making the frills seem that much more menacing. It’s like pink and lace kills when you wear it like you do.” Jesse explained happily, motioning to Gabe’s outfit, bursting when enthusiasm for the idea and noted that Gabriel seemed a bit thrown off by the compliment.

“Wait. You don’t find it degrading?” Gabriel asked incredulously and the offense at the very thought made Jesse spring up on his feet.

“Are you joking?! I’ve known you forever, Gabe! This is the creative expressive you’ve been repressing for god knows how long! I’ve seen the way we walked by magazine stands and you tried to not envy the girls and women who could wear outfits that would make them jealous to see you in! I’m looking at you now and I can see part of what went wrong! You had expectations of you, we had expectations of you as your subordinates, and the world had expectations of you that you didn’t agree with but put up with anyways! It was one small part of one huge chip you had on your shoulder and it was part of what broke you!” 

Jesse quickly put up a hand as Gabriel was about to say something to interrupt him. “Sit down, Gabe. I know it wasn’t the fucking outfits that brought down fucking Overwatch, I’m not a damn idiot even though I dress like one. There’s a huge conspiracy and shit that I’m probably not aware of but my god you would have at least had something that made you happy in Blackwatch if you could have a little outlet to let yourself be who you wanted instead of who we expected you to be!”

Gabriel looked down at the ground for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. “It rings some truth to it, I guess. I mostly wear and design these outfits now because I wanted a sense of normalcy in my life after being reborn as thing… thing. You know I always enjoyed making costumes, right? I thought it might be a good place to start so I could feel like me again. Wearing the outfits was just a fun bonus, especially the way it made the other’s jaws drop to the ground.” He chuckled softly, drawing a warm smile from Jesse to hear such a pleasant, honest noise from Gabriel again.

“Listen, Partner. You don’t gotta worry about me makin’ a shit storm out of something that you love. I’m pretty used to that treatment anyways.” Jesse chuckled before Gabriel plucked the hat right off him. “Hey!”

“You need help relearning the basics, right? I think I should be able to tolerate you fumbling with needles again.” Gabriel placed the hat back on Jesse’s head with a chuckle, making the old cowboy look at his boss- no, coworker, with a fond smile. 

Gabe and Jesse were back again and the world better watch out!

\--

Jesse relearned the sewing ropes from Gabriel, starting out by patching up his shirts and pants on Gabriel’s bed while Gabe worked on new designs on his computer. It was a bit grueling the first few times as Gabriel was a harsh critic when it came to stitching, reminding Jesse of times when he was younger and learning how to move properly in training sims. He definitely wasn’t barking harsh insults or anything, getting up with an annoyed groan from his chair to show him again why it was important to keep stitches even and not too tight, by showing how easily he could snap the stitch with a tug before showing him how to do it right once more. 

Oh yes. Jesse VASTLY prefered this teaching technique than the other but he had to admit the younger him kind of needed a boot shoved up his ass anyways.

By the next mission, Jesse and Gabriel had settled into a routine of talking about sewing and fabric care at the table that the younger Overwatch members were almost surprised to see the ‘loner’ member of the group spending time with them. Everyone knew that agent Reaper had a thing for cutesy outfits and was grumpy as hell but seeing him with the approachable cowboy when he otherwise avoided them? Heresy.

“So…” Hana Song was the brave one to speak up as she sat down with her breakfast at the table, sitting right across from Jesse and Reaper. “I have a tear in my suit and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t want to be a burden on anyone here to have to order anymore but could I possibly bring it over to have you guys give me some pointers?” She asked nervously.

“I don’t see why not.” Gabriel answered. “In exchange I would like you to bring over some of those fashion magazines I see getting delivered to your room.”

Hana’s face lit up in excitement. “I’ve always thought your outfits were so much better than the magazines I get from home! You think they would help for your next creation?!”

Jesse was giddy as he watched Hana admit to being a fan of Gabriel’s outfits and how excited she was at the prospect of giving him inspiration for his future designs. Gabriel cleared his throat from how far from left field those compliments were and had to regain his composure somehow.

“I can’t promise you anything but showing you how to maintain your outfits, is that clear?”

“Crystal.” Hana smiled happily as she dug into her meal with a happy hum.

The sewing team grew to three that day.

\--

Jesse clutched the bleeding wound in his side as Hana’s meka zapped bullet after bullet with amazing accuracy with her defense matrix, practically growling as she allowed Jesse to drag himself into cover while she hyper focused on her task. A fast-moving black cloud dropped down from the catwalk above them and Reaper solidified next to the struggling cowboy, pulling an arm over his shoulder to help him duck into a well-lit corridor before sharply whistling for Hana to fall back with them.

“You okay, Jesse?” The meka pilot asked as Reaper helped him down to the ground before the wraith helped pull a biotic field down to help patch the opening in his side. 

76 and Winston were making work of the guys on the catwalk that got the lucky shot on McCree anyways, allowing Reaper to assist with covering their flank while Lena and Lucio were taking on the guys further in the Talon base. It was just shit luck that he got nicked this early in the assault but he would be back on his feet in no time. Angela didn’t have time to be messing around with something like this when Winston and 76 were taking the brunt of the aggro.

“I’m fine. Just give me a minute or two to get my second wind.” Jesse waved off, feeling the warm light mending his wounds rather quickly as he caught his breath.

“You need to stop smoking if you’re already out of breath, McCree.” Reaper chastised lightly before standing up, the leather hugging his thighs groaned and gave Jesse a good view of how little it left to the imagination before Hana thankfully interrupted his dirty mind.

“Bad guys incoming, Reaper!” Hana spoke as she quickly turned her meka around to face the reinforcements pouring in from the hole they blew in earlier. They were lightly armored with the usual machine guns Talons put on their non-specialized units for the good old ‘spray and pray’ method. Hana’s back was to Jesse but he knew the woman was trembling in excitement.

“Bet you I can take them down faster than you can, D.VA.” Reaper chuckled darkly as he walked over to the side of the meka. 

“Headshots only so you can’t cheat like last time, Old Man.” 

Reaper materialized two shotguns in his hands as he raised them and Jesse was pretty he was volunteered to be the third party judge for this little contest of theirs. “Ready? Go!” Reaper boomed and both of them took off, the meka’s rockets shooting Hana forward while Reaper dematerialized to snake forward along the ground after her. The poor Talon grunts didn’t know what hit them until Hana literally rand them over with her meka to get in the center of their formation before they could tactically split up to cover more ground.

Reaper reformed at her back and started taking pot shots amongst the chaos as Hana quickly got to work, flipping her matrix on and off to minimize damage done to the machine while also cleaning up house. In the end, twenty-sive bodies laid in a gory mess around the two of them and Jesse comedically shrugged his shoulders as they quickly looked back at him twenty feet away to see who the victor was. They both groaned as Jesse got up and picked up the biotic field, hooking it to his belt before heading over to meet up with them midway. Jesse didn’t want to pick favorites anyways.

“Where are you three?! We got mechs up here!!” 76’s voice boomed through their commlinks and Reaper was the first one to slap the side of his to yell back.

“Reinforcements! We just finished cleaning them up!”

“Hurry it up! We’re pinned down here!”

Reaper sighed before Hana and him looked over at Jesse. The cowboy grinned and raised his thumb up.

“Good as it’s gonna get! I’ll catch up!”

They both looked at each other nervously, or at least what he could tell from Hana before they took off together to join the frontline; Hana with her mech’s rockets and Reaper whipping back and forth across the ground as smoke trailing after her. It was times like these he wished he was a bit more special than wearing a cowboy outfit as he ran after them with Peacemaker in his hand.

\--

“Stop struggling so much, McCree!” Reaper growled as he tried to push a butterfly catheter into Jesse’s forearm while Hana, out of her meka, pinned his legs down with her weight. His wound ripped opened after one of the mechs slammed their arms into the cowboy, sending him flying after he killed the pilot, likely obeying the last command the pilot put in before getting a bullet to the brain. Hana was the first one to notice McCree was downed before detonating her own meka to clear the area for her and Reaper to assist him. Jesse was in a lot of pain even though his chest plate shattered to take the bulk of the damage from being thrown into a fucking pole, his spine would have been snapped in half if he didn't have it on.

“Reaper! Status report!” 76’s voice boomed in over the comms, making Reaper much more annoyed before Hana tapped the comm in her ear.

“He’s busy, Sir! McCree is in critical condition and my new meka is in transit! ETA five minutes!”

76 sighed heavily and mumbled something about McCree that had Reaper growling before he maneuvered the Junkers into position in their stead. Jesse continued to thrash against them from shock but Reaper finally managed to pop the catheter into the cowboy’s arm properly before placing a firm knee down on his flesh hand keep it still while he pulled off his gauntlet. He then inserted a new butterfly catheter into his own arm before linking their arms together with sterilized tubing he kept in one of the grenade canisters on his chest. Reaper's eyes flashed bright red as darkened blood flow from his body into Jesse’s, pushing the cowboy’s blood back as it tried to fill the line uselessly.

“What are you doing, exactly? Isn't a direct blood transfusion highly dangerous for both of you?” Hana asked as she raised her gun and popped two Talon grunts that had the unfortunate luck to try to use their hallway as an escape.

“I’m dead, Song, and you watched me do this last time.”

“Yeah, but Lucio and another medic were supervising you doing your hemomancy stuff.” She countered in annoyance as she reloaded her gun and put it back on her belt. Jesse had ceased struggling under her so she eased off his legs but kept her hands over his legs just in case he panicked again.

Reaper raised his free hand and gently moved his claws in a circle rotation over the open wound. Black blood and mist swirled up from the inside of the wound, making McCree groan as he arched his back. Tissue reformed and binded together as the nanites in Reaper’s blood obeyed his orders, patching up the wound’s surface and ruptured vitals as he continued to weave McCree back together. 

\--

‘Hemomancy’, what the fuck…?

McCree moaned as he felt something rushed through him, a searing heat that felt so good while Reyes’ finger swirled over his wound. It was so wrong to moan and want to rock his hips as he felt himself get erect from his body throbbing so wonderfully. Thank god for Hana be in his peripheral vision to help Jesse keep himself from actually acting on the sexual urges and embarrassing himself. He felt Reyes’ eyes on him though, concern and something else twinkling in his bright red eyes as he mended him up.

God, he hoped Reyes wouldn’t bring it up later as he ceased his hand’s movement and went to remove the catheters, presumably patched up the best he could do for now, before placing a cotton ball to the hole as he pulled it out of McCree’s arm. Reyes wrapped up his arm with medical tape before simply yanking the catheter out of his own arm and tossed the tubing aside after reabsorbing any blood left inside of it.  
“Stay with him until he gets back up on his feet. I’ll go assist with the frontline.” Reaper spoke to Hana.

“Roger! Good luck, Sir!”

He nodded his head and pulled his gauntlet back on before dispersing into a black cloud to weave away back into the fray further up the main hall.

\--

Reyes found him after they got back to base and had a medical examination by Angela. He was dressed in a long pink skirt that went down to his ankles, a teasing slit running all the way up the side of his leg to his mid thigh, showing a flash of thigh-high fish net stockings and a garter belt holding it up. He wore black heeled shoes with pink lace holding it together and a cute pink blouse with black lace trimming to go with it along with shawl over his head instead of a hood for once. His bone mask still a fixture of any outfit he wears.

“God.” McCree breathed as he slid his hat off his head and held it to his chest. “Anyone ever tell ya that you’re gorgeous, Boss?”

Reyes shifted on his heels arms crossing over his chest uncomfortably as he looks away from McCree for a moment. Jesse tenses up and grips his hat over his chest as he realizes his blunder.

“I-I’m sorry, Reyes! I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything!”

Gabriel raises his simple leather gloved hand up as he sighed heavily.

“It’s- What did Angela say?” Reyes suddenly spoke as he looks at McCree firmly.

“Oh. Bout the wound?” Jesse brings his hand up to rub the back of his neck lightly. “Said I should be fine and they’re gonna extract the nanites when I’m fully healed to give them back to ya.”

Reyes nodded his head and let his arms fall to his side. “A wound like that should be healed in a day or so. Try not to irritate it because the nanites are shit at suppressing the urge to itch healing wounds.” He informs McCree before gesturing Jesse to follow him with a gloved hand. Jesse follows him, his thoughts flying to the embarrassing pleasure he felt from Gabriel manipulating them in his body before he promptly shoved them away as he put his hat back on.

They ended up spending the rest of the day taking it easy together, eating dinner, and sewing in Gabriel’s room with Hana. It was relaxing and a very nice way to unwind from the stress of his long medical examination he had to endure most of the day when they got back early in the morning from the mission. Reyes walked slower than he normally did when they moved from the mess hall to his room for sewing, picking up Hana from her room as she finished up a stream for her game. Jesse wondered if he was doing it on purpose or if those heels made him worry of slipping on the steel flooring in some of the corridors. He wouldn’t mind catching the older man if he did accidentally trip backwards but there’s no way in hell that he would admit to wanting such a thing.

The next day, Angela had the nanites removed the best she could from Jesse’s body and injected them back into Gabriel before asking McCree to come in tomorrow for a checkup just to be cautious considering what Gabe’s nanites were capable of doing. Gabriel wore his adorable maid outfit today but with his usual leather boots rather than the custom pink pair he wore when they first met again. Jesse wanted so badly to compliment Gabriel as they left the medical ward together, walking side by side, his eyes constantly trying to steal a glance at the man’s outfit while also not getting caught admiring him.

They entered Gabriel's room alone and the wraith chose to speak after the door closed behind them.

“Jesse. What’s with the modesty? One day you’re praising my outfits to high heaven then the next you’re too nervous to even look at them. Any particular reason for this behavior?” 

Jesse swallows hard and tries to resist the urge to touch the huge light pink bow on the back of the outfit as Gabriel turns away for but a moment before his arms are over his chest and red eyes are scowling at him under the bone mask. 

“I’m mostly worried bout offendin’’ you. Yer outfit makes my head spin something bad and, well, I don’t want to ruin what we have, Gabe.” Jesse admitted quietly, tilting his hat downwards to cover his eyes as he glanced down, feeling ashamed for his pervy thoughts towards his comrade.

“Ah. I had no idea.” Gabriel let his arms fall to his sides as he walked over to Jesse and placed a hand on his shoulder. Jesse thought it was odd for Gabe to touch him without heavy spikes, not used to the soft touch of normal leather gloves and the human hands that resided under them. “Listen, Jesse, I’m- Your attention isn’t nearly as unwanted as you assume.” Gabriel quickly corrected himself as he spoke, the hand on Jesse’s shoulder squeezing the man lightly. 

Jesse sighed heavily in relief, his shoulders going lax before he looked up at Gabriel with a smile. “Ya have no idea how happy it is to hear that. Don’t worry about me doing somethin’ sleazy like looking at yer ass or something if you bend over in somethin’ that adorable, Gabe! I’ll be ever the polite gentleman.” He chuckled fondly before giving the man a playful wink. 

“Oh? Is that why you were so-” Gabriel brought a palm to the front of his mask as he groan for a quick second before letting his hand drop to his side. “You haven’t changed one bit in all the years we haven’t been together, Jesse McCree, only except now you’re actively chasing my skirts, in a literal manner.” He sighed, not sounding the least bit surprised and watched in amusement as the cowboy flushed brightly.  
“T-that! I never once tried to hit on ya when you were my boss, Gabe! I knew the line!” Jesse stuttered as he tried to defend himself.

“Oh? So you were attracted to me?” Gabriel mused curiously as he tilted his head to the side and cupped his chin.

“I respected ya but ain’t no way was I going to even think ya would given me the time of day! My head was on straight to not get feelin’s for my commanding officer!” He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at Gabriel but it ended up looking more like a pout than anything intimidating.

“Good.” Gabriel agreed. “I wouldn’t have let you even think for a moment that I would sleep with my own men, much less a greasy little punk like you were, McCree. But things are different now and we’re both men on equal footing.” He looked at Jesse’s blank face highly in amusement as the other man tried to process that last bit and felt himself smile under his mask. 

“Wait. Are ya sayin’ that ya don’t mind me possibly tryin’ to woo ya?” Jesse pulled his hat off and ran his flesh hand through his hair as his face was a lovely shade of red on his tan skin. So, the thought might have crossed his mind once or twice in the past few months, how interesting.

“Depends how decent you got at flirting. If you’re anything like your younger self and think a bad pick up line will get you into said skirts then you’re dead wrong.” Gabriel chuckled in amusement as McCree frowned. He knew he was just toying around and not genuinely upset as McCree sauntered over and pulled his hat back on.

“Want to grab some dinner and chat? Don’t have to drink afterwards but it would be nice to talk more than we already do.”

He pondered on it for a moment just to tease McCree before reaching up to unhook his mask and gauge his reaction to the state of his actual face. Jesse’s eyes widened but more in surprise than outright horror as he saw the heavy scarring and the holes in his face that vented out a slow stream of black smoke along with heavily discolored skin. He obviously knew about the discoloration and was smart enough to not bring it up, ever, but the visible distortion of his face was something no one ever passed the chance to engage him in, one way or another. The surprise melted to that of healthy curiosity before a reassured smile.

“To be honest, I always thought something more strange was going on under that like unnatural amount of teeth or a bazillion eyes. Somethin’ of that caliber but, man, clearly my imagination made it worse than it actually was.”

Gabriel slapped his palm to his forehead as Jesse laughed and sighed heavily at the blunt honesty of the idiot cowboy. In hindsight, though, he should have expected Jesse to not be turned off by the state of his face or body if he accepted Reaper as a teammate and was on board with his off-duty fashion. He wondered why he even tried to shake his resolve as he pulled the mask back on, clicking it back into place before shaking his head.

“Fine. Dinner it is. I assume you remember how to cook?” Gabriel spoke as he and Jesse headed out of his room.

“Depends. You fine with me trying some crazy fun stuff I learned while I was on the road for ten years?” Jesse smiled happily as he pressed the button behind him to close the door for Gabe. The wraith sighed but understood that his eagerness wasn’t a poor joke but the real deal as they walked down the hallway together, heels and spurs making a loud, obnoxious mess of noises together to announce their presence in the dorm area. It was oddly fitting for how loud they liked going during missions and reflected their personalities quite well.

“Like what, McCree?”

Jesse grinned and brushed a finger under his nose to scratch an itch. “Well, I was hopin’ we could collaborate like we used to on missions. Makin’ hot pot surprises and such with what we had on hand. I learned a lot from those times that helped make livin’ on the road a lot more endurable and most importantly didn’t result in me stravin’ to death.” He finger gunned proudly in Gabriel’s direction, drawing an amused chuckle from the pastel pink wraith.

“I remember how you used to bitch all day about the hot pots, calling it ‘not real food’, I believe?”

Jesse chuckled in agreement. “I was a fucking dumbass who couldn’t see the trees for the forest or however that line goes. A lot of stuff I learned in Blackwatch kept my ass safe and healthy while I hunted and was hunted down by bounty hunters after I left. It wasn’t all that bad workin’ under you, Gabe. Except for the end but ya already told me about that.” He shrugged.

“Now we have an opportunity to work together, surprisingly enough.”

“Yep. I could live without the constant fights that result in me being tossed on my ass though.” 

“You have back up and a competent medical team on staff here, Jesse. It’s not as bad of a trade off as you think.”

“Oh yeah.” Jesse smiled as they turned at the end of the hall to head to the main corridor that branches out and took a left to head to the dining area. “It’s really nice workin’ with everyone again and meetin’ the new guard that gets pulled in from time to time. Overwatch bein’ small and intimate reminds me of the better days of Blackwatch.”

“It’s actually more like how the Strike Team operated when I have time to think about it.” Gabriel mused. “Overwatch, after its formation, was a lot bigger than the Strike Team when we started out so that’s pretty much the only reason I can make the comparison. That and we’re all more tightly knit together and operating ‘secretly’ but not in a ‘Blackwatch’ sort of way.”

“That, and a few key members are missin’ for us to really call it the new ‘Strike Team’.” Jesse frowned. Gabriel nodded his head in agreement, both of them missing the magic Ana Amari brought to the group when she was still around. “At least Fareeha is comin’ to join us when her contract in Egypt ends, we can say Amari lives on in a way, right?”

“Right, as much as Ana would hate to see how Fareeha turned out by following in her footsteps she would have been proud of her following her dreams, in a way.”

They both walked into the kitchen and fanned out to collect a large cooking pot from one of the cabinets, bringing down the spice rack to set on the counter next to it, cubes of chicken poutine, four packages of instant noodles after tossing out the seasoning that came with it, fresh lettuce, tomato, potatoes, zucchini, squash, and tofu, since there wasn’t any unused meat in the fridge. 

“Not a bad haul, all things considering.” Jesse commented as Gabriel pulled out a ladle he had been digging around for in the crammed drawers for the past ten minutes and chuckled in amusement. “Yeah. No one uses one of those organizers for utensils around here. Hell, barely anyone takes all of them out of the dishwasher to put away after it’s all clean.”

“I think we need to get Jack in here to cook more often so it’ll give someone some initiative to kick everyone’s ass into line when dealing with the kitchen.” 

“I wouldn’t doubt that except he would probably unfairly go after the Junkers for obvious reasons or at least Junkrat since Roadhog is good about organization and cleaning when I see him in here.”

Gabriel looked at Jesse curiously for a moment before he lifted up the pot and stuck the huge thing into the sink to start filling it up with water as McCree moved to go find the cutting board and a clean knife. “You noticed that as well? He’s not as secretive as I thought he was about it then.”

“Who?” Jesse placed the cutting board on the counter and went to carefully dig around in the drawers for cooking knives. 

“Roadhog. You think anyone with a functional brain would let Junkrat into the kitchen? I don’t trust him with the microwave.” Gabriel shut off the sink and easily hauled the steel pot to the stove top and placed it down before turning on the heat, He placed the lid on top before walking over to a spot near the counter to lean back against it while Jesse chopped up the vegetables and tofu. Gabriel noticed that Jesse had become a lot more proficient at preparing food, remembering to take the top of the tomato off along with the eyes the grew on the potatoes without needing to be reminded as they talked. “How many times did you get food poisoning before you learned to wash your hands and the vegetables before dicing them up?”

Jesse elbowed him in the ribs lightly as he smirked at Gabriel. “Twice. Ain’t nobody else alive that can prove that otherwise, Gabe.”

“Not with how you cooked, I bet.” Gabriel snickered. Jesse stuck the top portion of the tomato to the top of Gabriel’s mask and he resisted the urge to shove the cowboy’s whole hat down his throat.

\--

The nanites were still active in McCree’s body after another series of test by Angela, at least the few they weren’t able to flush out earlier. Unlike Gabriel though, the nanites were operating properly after some light work on Angela’s end, shedding some light on what could and could not be reversed for Gabriel’s nanites. It was all very exciting but a bit disappointing on Jesse’s end as Gabriel and Angela talked about the whole thing in front of him in the examination room.

“So, I don’t get to really benefit from this at all? I can’t just sew my sides back together like Gabe can when he gets shot?” 

Angela chuckled lightly in amusement and Gabriel just sighed heavily.

“‘Super Soldier’, Jesse. Remember? I was able to some what sew myself back together before becoming… this, but, the nanites just accelerate the process.” Gabriel explained as Jesse frowned at the lack of superpowers the nanites gave him.

“If it’s any consolation, you might recover from a cold five percent quicker or a papercut within a few hours with the nanites in your body.” Angela spoke cheerfully.

“Pretty sure you need all the luck you can get on missions with your tendency for getting shot.”

“Hey! I’ve been have a streak of bad luck with ambushes late, layoff!” Jesse pouted as he narrowed his eyes at Gabe like a kicked puppy.

Gabe rolled his red eyes under his mask at that and said no more before Angela finished up on briefing them then kicking them out of the med bay. 

Jesse walked alongside Gabriel, his eyes admiring the black, gothic lolita dress he wore today with it’s lovely white lace trim and the huge black ribbon he wore on his neck. The front of the dress had a white ‘v’ area that cut maybe four inches down the chest to make it look like a faux blouse he was wearing under the dress, kind of like a pseudo french maid outfit he enjoyed wearing except not pink. He wore black, rounded, shoes with a two inch heel that had a white ribbon near the top and his usual black thigh highs + garter belt combo.

He waited until they were a decent distance away from the medbay and not within visible earshot of anyone before he lightly nudged Gabe’s elbow, drawing his attention.

“Hey. Just out of curiousity but do you wear make up with your outfits? Like eyeliner or something of that nature?” He whispered softly as Gabriel leaned in.

Gabriel shook his head. “Tried but they don’t make foundation for my unique skin type and even if they did, my skin cells die and regenerate too quickly for anything to stick.”

“Well… That doesn’t sound like too much fun.”

Gabriel shrugged his shoulders dismissively. “My nails are still workable if they don’t break off.”

Jesse perked up at that. “Yeah? You got any paint?”

“No.”

Another frown from McCree. “You interested in getting your nails painted, Partner? I could order up a few colors.” He smiled happily, the two of them coming to a halt as Gabriel started looking around, either unsure of himself or afraid others were listening in on their whispering. Jesse wasn’t exactly sure what Gabe was worried about considering he wore cute pink outfits around the base all the time but rested his hands on his belt as he let him think about it.

“You wouldn’t laugh?” Gabriel asked, oddly skittish for once in his life and it was all over finger nail painting…

“Why would I laugh, Gabe? I’m the one who's offerin’ to get you the tools if you’re interested. It’s not like we both don’t wear gloves anyways.” Jesse reassured him with a smile. “Pretty sure it would be nice to do something with my toe nails. What color do you think would fit me?”

Gabriel paused for a moment, his gaze drifting down to Jesse’s boots before looking back up at him. “You only want one color?”

Jesse quirked a brow at that with an interested smile. “Oh? You wanna go fancier, Gabe? In that case we could try nail beads or something unless you wanna do literal nail art. I’m not exactly too skilled with that though.”

“I’ll order it through Athena, Jesse. Just try to clean your feet up so they don’t smell when we do try this.” Gabriel chuckled in amusement as he place a gloved hand on Jesse’s shoulder for a moment before they continued walking towards the recreation area.

“I’ll Angie for some foot powder and nail trimmers. Don’t worry bout me, Gabe.” Jesse winked playfully as he gently pat his hand against Gabriel’s upper back like he used to. It was nice bonding with Gabriel over his interests and helping to enable him to branch out into other ‘less masculine’ territories together. 

Seriously fuck anyone who laughs at them at this point. Gabe has been through too much for anyone to justify mocking him for wearing nail paint, not that he won’t punch their lights out anyways.

\--

The nail painting set that came in two weeks later was massive. A damn, six layer, foldable stand with over 126 colors, shades, and about a quart of nail polish remover was sitting on the table in the recreation room. Gabriel set down a fresh roll of paper towels as he took a seat at the table and removed his mask, setting it over to the sit before pulling off his gloves. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and pants, foregoing anything fancy in case of nail polish spills, of course. Jesse took a seat adjacent to him, wearing flip flops like Gabriel suggested and his feet clean as a whistle from getting his foot hygiene up to snuff. 

“So, how are we gonna do this?” Jesse asked curiously as Gabe started picking up the vials to examine the color before putting them back into their respective places. The rec room had the best ventilation in the Gibraltar base, minus the hanger, so they decided to do the nail painting there versus doing it in the privacy of Gabe’s room. 

“Flip flops off and put one foot on my knee.” Gabriel answered as he continued looking through his MANY options on the racks. 

Jack glanced over at them from time to time as he tried to make it seem like he was more interested in the new program he was watching on the holo tv set rather than two fully grown males engaging in the fine art of nail painting. Jesse had to suppress a snicker and teasing the former Strike Commander since he didn’t want Gabe to flee in embarrassment should he lose his nerve from that. Jack wasn’t saying anything from the couch so it should be smooth sailing for now, right?

Jesse slipped his foot out of its flip flop and propped the arch of his foot on Gabe’s knee while he still continued to be extra picky with whatever he planned on doing to Jesse’s nails. 

“Any ideas on what you want me to try?” Gabriel suddenly asked, tossing the whole ‘he’s likely coming up with a plan’ bit right out the window. 

“Uh… Was kind of thinkin’ you had somethin’ in mind, to be honest.” Jesse rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he looked at Gabriel.

Gabriel paused for a good few moments, looking at Jesse intensely as he brought up his index finger to press horizontally to his top lip; a pose that Gabriel only used when trying to figure out a difficult problem on a mission or personal squabbles between Blackwatch members in the past. Jesse felt his cheeks flush at being the focus of something like that and shifted in his chair lightly just to get his mind of it for a few seconds as he looked away.

“What about seagulls?” Jack proposed curiously. They both looked over at the man and he shifted uncomfortably under their gaze. “Start out with a layer of light blue to represent the sky or ocean, let it dry, then make those little ‘V’s with white polish. It’s what I used to do when my younger cousins came over back at the farm.” He sheepishly explained to them. “Seagulls, trees, I did a lot of simple scenery to make them happy.”

Jesse looked over at Gabriel and watched the man nod his head in consideration of Jack’s recommendation. His red eyes looked back over at the nail polish racks and suddenly Jesse didn’t want Gabriel to paint something if it was just Jack’s suggestion. He was going to be the one wearing the art, after all.

“How bout a cactus in the desert? That sounds simple enough.” Jesse spoke up as Gabriel when to grab a light blue polish. The wraith paused and considered it for a moment before pulling out multiple light brown shades to lay out in an orderly line on the table, likely for the sand portion.

“I can manage that.” Gabriel spoke, before plucking out a light blue polish anyways along with some greens. He opened up the blue one to start coating all of Jesse’s toenails one by one on the foot resting on Gabriel’s knee. The delicate brush tickled his cuticles, forcing Gabriel to actually hold Jesse’s foot by the ankle to keep the cowboy from pulling his leg back every time he so much touched him with the brush. “Relax already, Jesse!” Gabriel heaved a heavy sigh as Jesse jerked his foot again and caused the paint to smear onto the skin near his nail for his big toe. “God, you’re worse than a child at the dinner table.”

“I can’t help that I’m not desensitized to a tiny brush touching my toenail, alright?” Jesse grumbled in embarrassment for his reflex giving Gabe a harder time than necessary. Gabriel used the nail polish remover pads to carefully clean off the blue polish that smeared onto his toes then set the foot down on the floor before picking up McCree’s other foot to set on his knee like the last one. “How many layers of blue are you gonna do?”

“How much patience do you have?” Gabriel countered with a smirk on his lip as he focused his attention on keeping Jesse’s foot in place and carefully painting his toenails one by one with the blue polish.

“Enough.” Jesse huffed in annoyance as he crossed his arms over his chest and relaxed back in his chair.

It took Gabriel an hour, but in the end, he made a layered picture of a daytime desert scene across Jesse’s toenails. The cactuses were kind of sloppy but it was Gabe’s first time trying to paint his nails so he couldn’t be too upset with the outcome as the paint dried while he hauled Gabe’s foot onto his own knee.

“What’cha interested in, Gabe?” Jesse asked with a reassuring smile as Gabriel slid the racks over to him after sealing up and putting the bottles he used back into their spots. “I’m not much of an artist but I can try.”

“Jet black with a silver nail gem on the big toes.” Gabriel stated simply, leaning over to grab something out of a bag he brought along and slid a plastic bag across the table to Jesse. 

The cowboy caught the bag and saw flat pieces of plastic jewelry that was a tad bit fancier than you would find at a craft store for children. Jesse nodded his head as he fished out two matching pieces of slightly-raised, diamond pieces and set them aside before sealing up the bag to slid it back over to Gabe. Gabe then tucked it back into his bag before setting it back down on the floor and leaned back comfortably in his chair while Jesse got to work. Unlike Jesse, he didn’t squirm one bit as the cowboy got to work on painting.

They both slipped on their flip flops when Jesse finished up and the nail polish rack was shifted back in place as Gabriel locked it up. All and all a good afternoon spent bonding with Gabriel.

\--

“When we get back to base, I want to show you something I’ve been working on, Jesse.” 

Jesse turned to look at Gabriel, donning his usual black leather garbs as he took a seat beside him on the dropship to head out for their mission. Gabriel pulled the restraint bar into place and Jesse followed suit as Lena advised them before the dropship took off, like always. Jack and Hana were doing last minute securing of her meka to the floor before taking their seats on the wall across from them as Angela patiently waited, secured in her own seat next to Jesse. The mission was the usual escort one they’re been getting in order to secure more funding for the new, and still very illegal, Overwatch.

“Yeah? Is it that new dress you’ve been chippin’ away at for the past few weeks?” Jesse asked with a genuinely interested smile as he looked over at Gabe, his face obscured by the mask as usual but unable to hide the softness of his red eyes looking at him.

“You’ll see. Just try not getting shot this time.” Gabriel lightly shoved Jesse’s knee and the cowboy responded by lightly kicking the wraith’s boot with a smirk on his lips. 

Things had been getting so much better between them since they first reunited. Hell, Jesse felt like this was the highest point their relationship has ever been in the years that they’ve known each other and it was like a breath of continual fresh air to be around Gabriel. Without the huge burdens of responsibility on his shoulders and them having a mentor/protege relation, he was actually getting to know Gabe more intimately as the man let him in more.

The ship’s engines turned on, and the ‘all seated’ sign lit up as Lena began the takeoff sequence. 

“Alright, Everyone! We’re off to Hong Kong! Please have your harnesses in place so we can get movin’!” Lena cheerfully announced over the speaker system and Jack and Hana locked their harnesses in. “Alright! Everything is green! Launching!”

The ship took off from the ground, slowly climbing into the air as the base slowly slid out of view before zipping right into hyper drive. Jesse felt the violent shift of the acceleration for a mere moment since Lena was an excellent and efficient pilot. After a few minutes, their bodies adjusted to the speed and the warning lights clicked off, giving them the ‘all clear for moving about the cabin as everyone unlatched their metal harnesses and got up to walk about. 

Jesse followed Gabriel as they headed for one of the numerous couches, spurs jingling as he casually held onto his belt. Gabriel took a seat and Jesse followed suit, giving the man a little bit of space as he propped his boots onto the table. It would be about a five hour flight to get to Hong Kong, so, Jesse let his back melt into the seat as he pulled out his phone while Gabriel took off his gauntlets and set them down on the table before propping his own feet up.

\--

Gabriel was a constant presence next to Jesse as they and Angela guarded the flank of the transport the group was escorting with Jack and the rest up front. Jesse kept a firm hand on his belt, trying to keep his nerves manageable as they left the compound. It certainly was a lot easier with Gabe and Angela by his side but he knew better than to drop his guard or relax too much. 

He would be a damn laughing stock if he got shot and incapacitated for another mission, possibly making Winston consider retraining him or some shit that he really didn’t want to go through. A gentle pat on his back helped draw him out of the stressful thoughts plaguing his mind and noticed that Gabe was looking at him.

Right. ‘Keep your eyeballs and brain on the mission’ was a stupid insult Gabriel would have barked out at one time for him daydreaming but things were different between them, now Gabriel got Jesse’s attention through light touches to bring him back without a word. He wouldn’t get chewed out if he did his damndest to stay alert and watch everyone’s backs. They were equals now.

Gunfire finally broke the peace after a good hour of escorting the transport without much issue. Nothing that the forward team couldn’t handle until some fucker just had to fire a rocket at them, forcing Gabriel to grab Jesse and Angela, before dissolving into smoke with both of them as the explosion shot the transport forward. The ground was torn apart by the near miss as Gabriel rematerialized behind cover with both Angela and Jesse still being protectively held up against his chest as they slowly recovered from the vertigo they experienced. 

“Jack!” Gabriel barked as Jesse tapped on his earpiece on instinct to report in but unable to put words together from how woozy he felt so Gabe just took advantage of his finger holding onto the ‘call’ button to talk instead. 

“I heard the explosion, Gabe! You guys alright back there?!” 

“Hostiles on the roofs, get someone on that already!” He growled angrily in response as Angela gently pushed her forehead against Gabe’s chest armor as she slowly got her bearings back. Jesse did the same as well though he didn’t exactly have the crazy amount of nanites Angela had in her system helping her recover faster but he did feel an arm readjust on his back when she moved away from Gabriel.

“You okay, Doc?” Gabriel asked automatically.

“Yes. Jesse might need a few more moments but I’m good to go.” She spoke confidently as she straightened up, taking her staff off her back holster to aim it at Jesse.

The warmth was like a blessing as his head slowly got back in order and he didn’t feel like vomiting anymore whenever he moved his eyes. He lifted his head up and saw Gabriel watching him, making sure he was recovering well before Jesse pulled away from him, not wanting to force himself on Gabriel more than he needed to. The light faded as the three of them watched gunfire spray down from the roofs and alleyways, Jack barking at them for assistance on the comms. 

“I’ll go assist D.Va if she goes to the roofs, Jack.” Angela spoke as she tapped on her commlink.

“Do that then! McCree and Reaper clear out the alleyways!” Jack commanded, making Gabriel growl in disgust of being ordered around by him but as long as Winston was not on the ground with them, Jack had team leadership during missions.

“Ready to clean up shop?” Gabriel spoke more so than asked and Jesse chuckled in amusement as he twirled Peacekeeper on his finger.

“Just like old times, Gabe. I got your six.”

The wraith nodded his head before ghost out into the street, drawing fire that flew through him harmlessly as Jesse went gung ho, snapping shot after shot to down the street level Talon thugs and the ones on the roof if they got greedy enough to poke their heads out. He rolled out of the way of focus fire shifting onto him but managed to duck behind a metal, food stall for cover. Bullets pinged harmlessly off his cover but the loud, familiar cracking of Gabriel’s shotguns brought the pressure off Jesse enough that he sprang up and started firing, supporting Gabriel as he went up close and personal with the assholes across the street.

“TL, Jesse!” Gabriel’s voice alerted him through his commlink, reflex taking over as he aimed top left and fired, taking out a sniper that was hiding until a moment ago. Old Blackwatch tricks and lingo was never not relevant, it seems. Not when Gabe and him still had use for it for situations like these.

Gabriel tossed his guns aside, them fading into smoke after they clattered to the ground and reformed into his hands as a fresh pair of reloaded shotguns. Gabe REALLY needed to teach him that trick sometime as they both booked it down their respective side of the streets to head to the moving transport ahead of them. Angela and D.Va were making good work of the goons on the roof while Jack provided them cover fire and keeping the transport driver calmly moving forward. 

“RA!” Gabriel alerted him again and Jesse fanned the hammer on two talon grunts chargin at him from the right alleyway, dropping them before they could even lift their guns.

Jesse tapped his commlink and whistled at Gabriel from how quick on his feet he was today. 

“Stop being impressed and actually WORK those eyes of yours, Jesse!” Gabriel huffed and Jesse gave him a mock salute before quickly reloading his Peacekeeper. Time to put out some fires if Gabe wanted him to work his eyes like he thought he meant.

He got a good vantage point and began hyper focusing on everything and everyone in his field of vision. The familiar pull behind his eye as he waited for the perfect moment, time slowing to a still. 

“DRAW!” Six shots fired consecutively and six bodies hitting the ground, his hand shooting up immediately to cover his eye from the intense pain he felt when the hyper focusing ended. 

“Nice shooting!”

“Great shot!”

Compliments flowing into Jesse’s ear piece as he felt a flush creep onto his cheeks from the praise, his hand still keeping his recovering eye covered as the enemy scattered. He wasn’t used to praise or anyone noticing when he mowed down the enemy, it was just part of what he was expected to do.

“Good job, Jesse.”

Jesse felt himself swallow hard as Gabe’s voice spoke over the commlink and saw the man in black himself walk over towards him.

\--

Jesse was oddly nervous as he headed over to Gabriel’s room after the mission was over. He was exhausted as fuck but receiving a text from Gabriel reminding him to come over after they separated at the landing pad to go their own ways. It was late at night but that didn’t mean much to him as he walked and lightly knocked on the door.

“Hey, Gabe.” Jesse whispered sheepishly as the door opened but didn’t get to say much else as he was grabbed by the arm and pulled quickly into Gabe’s room, the door sliding shut quickly while McCree tried to not stumble forward onto his face. “The hell was that for?!” 

He shot Gabriel a glare as he turned around and.... suddenly felt his jaw hit the ground as Gabriel stood by the door, in a simple pink silk nightgown that barely covered the man’s knees and gave Jesse ample amount of raw arms, shoulders and neck for him to gawk at. It had spaghetti straps holding it up but WOW. His eyes traveled downwards to see Gabriel ALSO wearing what he hoped was fishnet thigh highs as his ex-commander crossed his arms over his chest, looking away from Jesse’s gaze.

Was he being shy? Gabriel fucking REYES?!

Jesse’s heart was hammering in his chest as continued to eye Gabriel from top to bottom, admiring the man’s beautiful form as the silk clung to him neatly. 

“Oh, that’s- Woah- I mean- Let me start over!” Jesse chuckled nervously as he tried to get some complete sentence in his head that didn’t make him look like a dog in heat because damn did he feel like one.

“Does it look fine?” Gabriel mumbled softly, still looking away from Jesse.

“Yeah! Yeah, you look amazing, Gabe! You always looked great in pink but silk is a fabric I haven’t seen on ya yet!” Jesse reassured him honestly, keeping his feedback friendly and supportive to stay safe. A mischievous smirk made it’s way on Jesse’s face as he sauntered over, feeling a lot more confident as he kept his more sexual feeling about the outfit pushed off to the side. “So? Ya pick a night gown fer comfort or to impress Jack?” 

Gabriel finally looked back at Jesse and scowled at him. “Why the hell would I wear it for Jack?”

Jesse paused and raised a brow at him curiously. “Right. Rude of me to assume you made it fer anyone but yerself. Should known better.”

Gabriel groaned as he pressed his hand to his face. “Do you like it or not, Jesse? Out with it.”

“I’m pretty sure I gave it my seal of approval.” Jesse answered in confusion. He wasn’t used to repeating himself for Gabriel.

Gabriel kept his hand over his face as he sighed heavily. “Would you like to see it on my floor?” He mumbled sheepishly.

“Why would ya want to put it on the floor?” Jesse asked as his eye looked at the floor with a critical eye. “Pretty sure ya shouldn’t go tossing delicates like that all willy nilly onto the ground-”

Gabriel growled in frustration as Jesse gave his opinion, startling the cowboy a bit. “Can you-! It’s not a matter of asking where I should put it, McCree! Out of all the possible people-!” 

“I’m sorry! Should I get you a hanger?” He offered, still confused about why Gabriel was frustrated.

“No.” Gabriel shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Thanks for your opinion, McCree. You can leave now.”

And out the door Jesse went, a bit disappointed in himself for not offering the help Gabriel was looking for. It did kind of bother him that Gabe called him ‘McCree’ rather than ‘Jesse’ like he had been lately but he chalked it up to stress as he turned away from Gabe’s door to head back to his own room further down the dorm hall.

\--

“What’s your opinion on Reaper?” Jesse asked as he and Hanzo were practicing at the firing range, wanting to make small talk now that the wayward archer came back after a few months away, and with a radically new look as well.

Jesse never would have assumed he was a piercings kind of guy but then again Gabe was all about pastel gothic lolita stuff. Teaches him to assume things about others before really getting to know them. He was kind of cute now that he came back and was much more relaxed about a lot of things he used to easily get worked up over.

“Gabriel Reyes? His fashion sense is interesting.” Hanzo fire his arrow, it slightly missing dead center but he didn’t seem to mind as he notched another arrow. “He is very confident about what makes him comfortable and isn’t afraid of other's opinions.” 

“Yeah?” Jesse fired off a few rounds, knocking all the targets over even if he didn’t hit bull’s eyes either. It was more to seem like he was training in order to spend more time with the guy after Genji almost laughed half to death in his room when Hanzo returned to Gibraltar. 

“He understands the finer points of skirts than most women do. Knows how to get people’s attention and intimidate them enough to look away with how he makes them emphasis his form. Creates a sense of danger in a fashion style that pushes the boundaries of sickenly cute on women.” Hanzo answered simply, a small smile of appreciation on his lips as he spoke fondly of it.

“Ah. I getcha. He’s like the opposite of who ya expect to wear such outfits.”

“Better than the perverts, if you ask me.” Hanzo then huffed in disgust before firing off another arrow, managing to hit the target dead center this time with a relieved sigh. “What do you think of his fashion sense, McCree?” He asked curiously as he turned to look at Jesse.

“Me? I’ve known the guy forever but never really knew him, if that makes much sense. He’s a lot happier than he was, a million times so, I would say. He could be into wearing literal stripper’s gear around the base and I wouldn’t hold it against him if it really made him happy. The guy’s like a completely different person when he gets fabric into his hands and an idea in his head that he’s just gotta try out. Going from a hardass commander of a black ops division to a foot soldier with all the freedom he could ever want to spend his time has done wonders for him. I’m sure he would want to channel that extra energy into bein’ a proper commander again but he knows he has to move on from it all for the good of his soul. I support him one hundred percent in anything he’s passionate in doin’.”

Hanzo chuckled softly in amusement, making Jesse flush slightly in embarrassment for yapping off about Gabriel when the guy was likely expecting a shorter answer. Jesse felt his heart race slightly at how endearing Hanzo sounded when he laughed before pulling his hat down to obscure the pink of his cheeks. Too many cute guys at this base and Hanzo had to go turning into one.

“Are you two flirting in here?” Genji chuckled in amusement as he walked in, Gabriel leaning against the door and looking at Jesse, complete unimpressed. “I told you there were here, Reyes, but you didn’t believe me!”

“What kind of hardcore drugs your brother did before coming back is what I want to know.” Gabriel deadpanned, making Genji keel over from how hard he was laughing. Red eyes went up to look at Jesse’s while the brothers argued with each other before looking back over at Hanzo as he stomped past Gabriel and back out into the hallway as Genji was wheezing on the floor.

Gabriel shook his head before turning to leave, leaving Jesse alone with the cyborg who was likely crying under his visor from how hard he was laughing.

\--

Another late-night invitation to Gabriel’s room had Jesse’s heart racing once more as he approached the door around the time Gabriel gave him. He pressed his finger against the ‘call’ button, a buzz sounded his arrival somewhere in the room before the door opened. Gabriel was wearing a black cocktail dress this time along with open-toed black heels that had Jesse holding his breath as he stepped in and watched Gabriel close the door behind him. He could see the black nail polish and the two diamonds sparkling as the wraith smiled in amusement to Jesse’s gaze.

“This is about the fastest I’ve ever seen you turn out a dress, Gabe. It looks gorgeous on ya!” Jesse enthusiastically spoke as he walked around Gabriel. “No thigh highs tonight?” He asked casually as he assessed the outfit like a good friend would.

“What? You like thigh-highs, Cowboy?” Gabriel spoke sensually, making Jesse halt in his step and tense up.

“I- Uh- What?! I was just- You always look so good in em and-!”

Gabriel closed the gap between them and playfully flicked Jesse’s hat off his head. “And?”

“Um! I think ya look mighty good in ‘em?!” Jesse stammered out as his entire face grew redder than a tomato as Gabriel leaned over close to his face.

“You already said that, Jesse.” Gabriel smiled. 

Jesse took a deep breath and closed the gap between their lips, kissing Gabriel. It was impulsive and the dumbest thing he ever did but goddamn did it feel good to get that load off his chest as he pulled away. He prepared himself for a punch in the gut or a slap in the face for his behavior but didn’t expect Gabriel to grab him by the shirt to drag him in for a proper kiss. It was far too gentle for what McCree expected Reyes to kiss like, gabe removed his hands from the front of Jesse’s shirt to wrap them around his neck as Jesse brought his own arms around to hold Gabe’s waist.

He was never attracted to Gabriel, his crush in the earlier years was sufficiently smushed under the weight of Reyes as a commander and his ill temper in the later years turned him off completely, but now?

He didn’t exactly mind getting with the man Gabriel was now.

His kiss and gentle touches as he brought his bare hand up to gently run through Jesse’s made his heart race like no other. Gabriel pulled away and then held his lips against Jesse’s forehead affectionately.

Oh yeah. He was melting for Gabriel super hard now.

“Your face is really red, Jesse.” Gabriel whispered in amusement as he pressed his forehead against Jesse’s, a warm smile on his lips.

“Well, I didn’t think ya would be so gentle.” Jesse admitted with a soft chuckle. “It’s a lot different than I thought ya would kiss.”

“I just figured it would be easier to show you rather than tell you.”

“I still wouldn’t mind hearin’ whatever you’re gettin’ at, Gabe.” He grinned playfully.

“Maybe some other time, alright? We both need to get to sleep anyways.” Gabriel backed off slowly, making Jesse miss the cool press of his head to his warm one but he knew the man was right. 

Winston had a difficult training session planned for all of them so that meant he was going to need all the rest he could go. Gabriel walked with him to the door and gently placed his hand against the button, letting them slide open for Jesse.

“Night, Gabe.”

A hat was placed firmly on his head before he could turn and leave.

“Night, Jesse.” Gabriel chuckled in amusement as Jesse quickly slipped away, his face a deep red as he realized he almost walked out without his trademark stetson. 

Cheeky bastard waited for him to notice it was gone and got a laugh out of him being a mushy mess after that kiss and almost confession.

Both of them slept well that night.

\--

Hanzo and McCree were teamed up with Lucio and Winston while Jack, Lena, Reinhardt, and Gabriel were on the other team in the simulation. A physical replication of King’s Row was almost perfect, including several structures phased over with holograms to replicate the area perfectly from street level to the hotel interior. Jesse was lounging on one of the couches in the hotel connected to the big ben replica, enjoying the plushness of the two seater as Hanzo made his way inside before the match started. 

The archer’s eyes scoped out the place, figuring out every nook and cranny until he finally laid eyes on McCree. Jesse quirked a brow at Hanzo as he walked over to him and plopped down next to him, staying at a respectable distance and laying his bow against the armrest. He looked up at the clock on the wall and saw they had about ten minutes left until the match would begin.

“You get a good look at the layout?” Jesse asked, trying to make conversation with the archer to pass the time since he couldn’t just go saunter over to Red’s spawn and talk to Gabriel.  
“Yes. I saw Winston dragging you away from Red spawn. It was amusing.”

Jesse grumbled as he tilted his hat down to cover his eyes, fucking figures he saw that embarrassing sight.

“I assume you wished to correspond with Reaper?” Hanzo grinned knowingly.

“You’re doin’ a lot of assumin’ about me, Partner.” Jesse grumbled in annoyance, turning his body away from Hanzo to rest lean against the armrest. “Pretty sure ya don’t like it either when we talk about yer new look.”

Hanzo tensed up at that, McCree going right for that low blow from how salty he was. Everyone had their own theories about why Hanzo came back all shaved and pierced up with a new style but Jesse wasn’t going to pry. All he wanted was for Hanzo to shut up about Gabe right now.

“What do you think of my new look, McCree?” Hanzo suddenly asked, taking the cowboy by surprise by how directly he asked the question.

Jesse felt his cheeks flush slightly at that. Hanzo was always a good-looker but now he was riding on the wild side of things, as shy as he was about it. The man was really attractive now, aesthetically-speaking, but he didn’t want to tell him that. He kind of liked Gabriel’s ‘deadly cute’ aesthetic more personally the longer he was around him but Hanzo’s look was something he always had a weakness for.

“Is it really that awkward and unfitting for me to express myself like this?” Hanzo clarified, oddly uncertainly with himself as Jesse turned his head to look at him. Conflict was written all over his face and Jesse sighed as he sat up properly.

“Do ya feel like it isn’t you, Hanzo?” Jesse asked, wanting to help him out if Hanzo really was needing a second opinion. “I’d say that the look is fine, very roguish and expressive. Ya gotta have a lot of confidence in yerself to pull off that look but I think ya just need more time for everyone else to adjust to it. I’ll cut the shit out on my end if it makes ya feel any better.” He reassured him with a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“I like it. That is all that matters, yes?”

Jesse nodded his head confidently. “Sure as the rain, Partner.”

\--

“What’s the gameplan, Winston?” Jesse asked as he and Hanzo headed over to the control point they were defending for the simulation to join Winston and Lucio, who were already there. They had five minutes left to get a basic idea of the plan, or at least McCree since he booked it to the attacker’s spawn immediately when they were allowed into the arena.

Winston sighed. “Lucio brought up a good point while you two were scouting, at least I hope you were, that it might be a good idea to center the battle formation around protecting you, McCree.”

Jesse paused for a moment before looking at Winston skeptically. “What.”

Lucio chuckled in amusement to McCree’s reaction before speaking up. “Well, you and Reaper as like ‘this’ as of late, Cowboy, so we should assume he’ll be trying to pick on you like a little boy on the playground with a crush.”

Jesse just stared at him, completely unamused with the reasoning. “You clearly don’t know Reaper as well as I do then. Pragmatism trumps everything with him. He’ll be going for the medic, if you get my point.”

Lucio shrugged his shoulders with a cocksure smile on his face and Jesse felt annoyance boiling under his skin. So, what if Gabe and him shared on freakin’ kiss! It ain’t gonna change how the man operates on his missions, especially if he has Jack on his team to keep the fire lit under his ass. Hell, they’ll probably make a game out of seeing who could get the most kills!

“Mission begins in thirty seconds.” Athena announced over the loud speaks, breaking the immersion for a moment to remind Jesse he wasn’t in King’s Row no matter how good the simulations.

“Alright, enough joking, Lucio. Let’s focus on the actual mission of watching each other’s backs for Reaper and NOT let ourselves get caught out by Soldier, alright?” Winston took over, the three of them nodding in agreement to stick to their usual plan of ‘protect the point and the medic’ as the timer counted down.

“Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Begin.”

\--

Jesse kept Peacekeeper loaded an ready as he watched their flank, eyes going up to the second floor of the covered walkways that connected the hotels for signs of Lena or Gabriel when either of them darted out of sight from behind Reinhardt’s barrier as Jack pelted at them safely. Hanzo used his sonic arrow to keep an eye on the movement in the upper floors of the Meridian if they tried to sneak around through that front.

Lena zipped through the projection of Reinhardt’s shield, cackling excitedly as she dodged Hanzo’s arrows as she pelted Winston with blanks, his health bar on his stun-vest dropping just a few hairs before she recalled in a blue whirl. Jesse pulled a flashbang from his belt, ready for her to try that again as Lucio switched his music to a healing melody to help refill Winston’s health. Once the health bars on the vests reached zero then a red barrier would effectively lock them down where they fell for ten seconds, unable to assist in any manner as the enemy team took advantage of the power play. Hense why Jesse watched Lucio’s six as Reinhardt started moving up with his shield, apparently feeling confident as Jack continued to press down on them behind the barrier.

There was no way that Gabriel didn't take advantage of the temporary chaos Lena caused to slip into the back somewhere and start advancing on his own front. 

“Winston! Ain't no way that wasn't intentional!” Jesse spoke to the Overwatch leader over his commlink as he kept his eyes moving for a blur of blue or black.

“Check the hotel, McCree. Ambush Reaper before he gets the chance!” Winston ordered and Jesse split from the group as Winston threw down a barrier to protect the other two.

“I’m on it!” Jesse took his finger off his earpiece and slid into the hotel, his back pressed against the finely painted walls as he listened for the sounds of heavy boots on wooden flooring. Ther rattling of gunfire outside was slightly muffled indoors but Jesse knew he couldn’t rely on Gabriel making loud footsteps to announce his arri-

A familiar sparkle caught Jesse’s eye as a very familiar leg poked out around the corner next to Jesse, a familiar leg hugged by delicate fishnets, with black nail polish on the toe nails and a diamond jewel embedded in the large toe nail paint.

“Does this angle look weird from your position or should I point my toe more to the floor, Jesse?” Gabriel chuckled softly, making a bloom of warmth surge in the cowboy’s chest as he carefully went around the corner, metal fingers gently rolling over the fishnet fabric and smiling as he watched Gabriel retract his leg a bit from the sudden contact.

Jesse twirled Peacemaker in his hand and reached up to flip off his commlink in his ear as he saw Gabriel’s boots and pants resting against the armrest of one of the couches, revealing the man himself to be maskless, sporting lacy black underwear along with garter belts holding up his fishnet thigh highs deliciously around his legs. He whistled at the sight of Reyes setting his foot back down on the ground and walked into the man’s space as he holstered Peacemaker.

“Well, now. What we got here? What a pretty man like yerself doin’ all the way out here?” Jesse drawled as he brought a hand up to cup Gabriel under the chin, his thumb affection smoothing the beard.

A warm smile lifted the corners of Gabriel’s lips as red eyes gazed into brown ones. “I’m looking to get a room so I figured a hotel was a good place to start.”

Jesse eyed Gabriel mischievously as he pressed into his body, flipping the wraith’s hood back, and moving him up against the wall. “Perfectly good couch right there, Darlin’. Ain’t no presidential suite but I’m known for giving world-class service.”

Gabriel smirked at that as he leaned forward to press his lips against Jesse’s and made an approving noise as the cowboy pressed back, his hands tracing over the leather covering Gabriel’s torso. “You better deliver then.” Gabe chuckled as their lips parted and they moved their fun to the plush couch.

\--

“You got to be kidding me, Gabe!” Jack spat as he stomped over to both Gabriel and Jesse after the match was put on hold in order to find the two MIA agents. Luckily, for both of them, it was just a quickie with them with Gabe fastening his boots back on when Jack went into the hotel to find them. Jesse readjusted his pants to hide his bulge and lick his lips suggestively as Gabriel quickly clicked his mask back into place to look over at Jack. No way Gabriel would be able to think about Jesse’s lips in such a decent way after the dick sucking he got from the cowboy in appreciation for his attire he wore under his battle gear just to seduce him.

“I just found him myself, Jack. Relax.” Gabriel hand waved dismissively, Athena would know better than to show anyone what they did since he was the one responsible for approving orders for anything in the base, including her upgrades.

“That’s a load of horseshit, Reyes, and you know it! McCree! Where the hell were you?! This is trainning and you’ve been getting hurt on a lot of missions lately due to carelessness! You have no reason for wandering off!” 

“Get off his back, Jack. You’re not the one in charge when we’re not on a field operation.” Gabriel cooly countered as Winston headed over to them, looking rather annoyed at the simulation breakdown.

“He has a point, Soldier. Let me handle this.” Winston spoke calmly as Jack sighed heavily and turned on his heels to leave. Old habits die hard, especially when everyone in Overwatch knows 76’s identity now. The leader’s eyes turned towards Gabriel and the wraith left them both alone as he left the hotel from opposite way Jack did. With them both alone, Winston cleared his throat before speaking. “I understand that it’s difficult to get used to working on a team again McCree but you really do not have an excuse for goofing off. I shouldn’t have to chastise you like this.”

“My apologies, Winston. My mind has been on other things lately but I’ll focus a lot harder. Sorry to disappoint ya.” 

Winston paused for a moment, his eyes gazing in the direction of where Reyes went off to. “On second thought, maybe having both Lena and Gabriel puts a huge pressure on your back to deal with two unorthodox flankers when that’s usually not realistic expectations for a mission.” He mused as he scratched the underside of his chin. “We’ll pull Gabriel off our team and switch someone else in that will still give you a challenge but not so overwhelming this time. Would that be better?”

“If Gabe’s fine with it then I certainly don’t mind the roster changes.”

“Right. I’ll go talk with him. Athena? Have all participants head back to the spawn rooms and wait for further instructions.” Winston ordered and the AI responded promptly.

Jesse waited until Winston left the hotel in the direction of where Gabriel went and then rolled his eyes. Gabe owed him for taking the fall for his deviant behavior but he wasn’t exactly innocent in the whole ordeal either since he willingly let himself get distracted. He flipped his communicator back on in his ear and sent a recorded message to Gabriel’s commlink for him to hear later.

“You owe me dinner for this, Gabe.”

\--

Steak. 

New York steak strip with grilled vegetables, and one huge Iowa baked potato with a bottle of red wine in the center of the small foldout table was what Jesse was greeted with when he got a text later in the afternoon telling him to stop by Gabe’s room for dinner. He closed the door behind him as the room was solely lit with candles scattered about and the gorgeous man himself was wearing that darling black cocktail dress with black stockings and heels. Gabriel walked over to flip on a music playlist on his computer before turning off the monitor’s harsh backlighting while the energetic jazz music set the ambience for the night.

Jesse looked down at himself in shame, wearing a stained old plaid button up and black pajama pants with old tennis shoes was certainly making him feel out of place compared to how pretty Gabriel was for the dinner.

“Sit down already, Jesse.” Gabriel chuckled in amusement as he pulled out his own fold up chair to sit down in it while Jesse followed his orders to sit down in a foldout chair across from him.

“Where the hell did ya get this steak from, Gabe?” Jesse asked incredulously as he looked at the food before him and then quickly back up to Gabriel in amazement. “At such short notice too?”

Gabriel laughed at that as he reached across to grab the bottle of cabernet mignon and a corkscrew to start making work of twisting the metal into the cork. “Who do you think you’re talking to, Jesse? I’m the one who approves of any request order in Overwatch now that isn’t on Athena’s automated reorder list. A dead man still has his connections, at least the ones who don’t care to ask questions.” He smirked as he pulled the cork out with a satisfying pop and set the corkscrew down on the table before extending his freehand expectantly to Jesse. Jesse handed his wine glass over to Gabriel before the man started pour the dark red liquid into the glass, filling it up halfway to start and passed it back to him. Gabriel then got to work on filling his wine glass up halfway before placing the bottle back in the center of the table.

“Seriously?” Jesse quirked a brow skeptically at Gabriel as he picked up his steak knife and fork to start cutting into the meat. 

“I’m mostly just a series of letters and numbers to these people. Also, many don’t know who ‘Gabriel Reyes’ is anymore. Everyone is too quick to forget a name in the news the moment their name fades from the headlines.”

Jesse stared at him for a few moments before Gabriel sighed heavily.

“No, I did not use my real name as the person the packages get shipped to, McCree.”

Jesse chuckled in amusement as he lifted a piece of the steak to his mouth and took a bite, a rush of seasoning and steak juice flooding his taste buds as he moaned softly in approval. “Forget that! This is incredible, Gabe! Where’d ya order this amazing steaks fer us?”

Gabriel smiled warmly as he lifted his own steak knife and fork to start cutting into the meat. “I might have been planning this dinner for a little while now. Just your usual high-quality steaks from the butcher’s and left to marinate on a covered plate for two days before I slapped them on a regular charcoal grill. Then I added more of a special seasoning sauce on as I cooked them to make the bite into the steak just as good as when you chew it. It doesn’t drown out the natural flavor too much, right?”

“Oh, hell no! This is bout as good as those steaks you made fer me after my first Blackwatch mission!” Jesse complemented Gabriel highly as the man himself continued to cut up his steak on autopilot while his brows furrowed together.

“I made you steaks?”

“Yeah! And Jack brought out some of the corn from his family’s farm that he had stored away in the freezer. The three of us ate together!” Jesse’s enthusiasm faded as he looked at Gabriel’s puzzled face. “Ya don’t remember?”

Gabriel set down his knife and fork after he finished dicing up his steak to his like and hummed as he looked off to the side, deep in thought. “‘Jack brought out the corn’...?” He then realized Jesse had stopped eating and looked over at him in mild surprise. “Right. I guess I should tell you that some of my memory never recovered after the explosion. I can recall most major events of my life up to that point but some things got lost when I came back to the world of the living. Was Jack, Ana, and I dating back then?”

Now Jesse was the one with a puzzled expression. “You three dated each other?”

“Or was it just Jack and I?” He grumbled, looking seriously frustrated by his shoddy memory.

“Neither, as far as i knew, Gabe…” Jesse spoke sympathetically. “You okay, Gabe?”

“Yeah.” He spoke after a moment, picking his fork back up to eat another few pieces of the meat.

“You deal with this all the time?” Jesse asked slowly as he picked up his fork and knife to cut into his potato before opening the containers of butter and sour cream on the table.

“I just never bothered to ask questions.” Gabriel answered quietly as he took the small bowl of sour cream Jesse handed to him, setting it down before cutting open his own potato to use the spoon to put a generous amount of the cream in between the two halves.

Jesse scooped two small lumps of butter in between his potato slices before putting the designated spoon back into the bowl and passing it over to Gabriel like he did with the sour cream before. He added a bit of salt and pepper to his potato before getting to work on mixing all the condiments into the meat of the potato, his eyes occasionally glancing up at Gabriel as he did the same.

He wondered if Angela might know more about his memory loss issues and if anyone else might know about the problem like Jack or Winston. The fact that Gabriel thought he was dating someone depressed McCree a bit. It either meant he didn’t know Gabe all that well to know if he had a lover or two back then or the guy really did suffer alone like the rest of Blackwatch thought at the time. 

They ate silently together as the upbeat jazz music didn’t really fit the depressing atmosphere between them from that little confession by Gabriel. But, still, things were different now. “Ya got me, Gabe. I’ll help ya fill in the gaps to the best of my ability, if you ever want to talk about the past.”

“Might be a bad idea considering what I can remember of Blackwatch was a pile of shit that even I wish I forgot.” Gabriel grumbled lightly as he scooped up his potato and ate it before taking a sip from his wine. “Listen, Jesse, I appreciate your enthusiasm but it’s honestly no big deal. What matters more is how I live my life now and treat everyone, who puts up with me being around, better. Having a lover or not in the past doesn’t really mean anything now.”

“Cause ya have me now?” Jesse smirked as he watched Gabriel’s eyes lighten up knowingly before that rare smile of his worked its way back on his lips.

“Not entirely, but you are a decent positive influence in my life, one way or another.” He smirked behind the rim of his wine glass as he took another sip.

“Aw, ain’t that the sweetest thing ya ever said to me, Gabe.” Jesse snickered as he took his own sip from the wine glass.

“Wait until I show you what’s for dessert, Cowboy.” Gabriel teasingly winked. 

Jesse felt his heart pounding at that. “I ain’t exactly finished with showing you a good time, either, Gabe. I’ll show you the meaning of ‘fine dining’ when we’re done here.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Jesse.”


End file.
